Last week, Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled that the state's lethal injection technique "allows for death by suffocation while conscious." The drug in question is sodium thiopental — which is given in 5 gram doses and is supposed to knock the condemned out, before they receive two more drug injections. There have been other sodium thiopental-related issues in other states.

Albert G. Brown Jr., convicted in 1982 of raping and strangling a 15-year-old girl, was scheduled…
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Bonnyman asked the state to come up with a way to check if the inmate was still conscious. The state decided that having a warden "gently shake" the inmate and touch their eyelashes was enough. Then yesterday, the court said that nudging a prisoner wasn't enough, and stayed West's — and three other death row inmates' — executions until they can figure it out, as long as they do it in 90 days.